Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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More downtown parking is in Sidney’s future. At Tuesday’s meeting, the city council approved the purchase of property located at 812 9th Ave. to provide additional parking in the area. The city entered into an agreement to purchase two commercial properties from Mildred Elwell for the price of $50,000. The property includes a building as well as a fenced lot. “It’s an old structure that has a lot of structural damage,” said city manager Gary Person. “And obviously it has a lot of wear and tear from its age.” The structure and lot are both curr...
Nothing bothers me more than uninformed people angrily spouting political beliefs. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re knowledgeable about the issues and you have different opinions that I do, I could listen to you talk all day. I enjoy a good debate as long as both sides can keep cool and remain respectful. One of the things that bothers me most is when someone says that legislation is being crammed down peoples’ throats. First of all, if you’re one of the people saying this, you’re being dramatic. Calm down. Whenever legislation is passed wi...
The Sidney school bond was defeated again on Tuesday, this time by a margin of just 64 votes. The $16.95 million bond would have funded the construction of a new K-4 school to replace the three aging facilities that now house those grade levels, the oldest of which was built in 1929. The initial count after the polls closed on Tuesday was 953 votes against the bond and 889 in favor of the bond. “We knew it was going to be a pretty close election,” said Sidney schools superintendent Jay Ehler. Although Ehler and the school board were opt...
Nathan Pohl will be spending more than one year imprisoned for an attempted burglary followed by an escape from the Sidney police station earlier this year. The Sidney man was initially arrested in February when law enforcement found him trespassing at the golf course mower shed. Upon his arrest, police found several items inside his vehicle that were taken from the mower shed. Later on that very frigid day, Pohl escaped the police department through a side door. He was not wearing a coat or shoes. He was located when an employee at Points...
Wyatt Coleman was sentenced to two years of probation on Tuesday for stealing a pickup truck from a Sidney residence in December 2013. The pickup was recovered by the Weld County sheriff’s department near Greeley, Colorado a few days after it was stolen. Coleman was reportedly driving the truck on Interstate 76 when he was pulled over and arrested. On April 2 Coleman pled no contest to one count of theft by unlawful taking, a class four felony. All parties agreed that a waiver of probation fees would be appropriate, in exchange for Coleman payi...
At Monday’s meeting, the Sidney school board approved bids for several construction projects to take place at some of its schools this summer. These projects include roof work, heating and cooling upgrades and window replacement. Right now its difficult to find competitive bids for construction projects, because of all the jobs going on in Sidney this summer, said Sidney Schools Superintendent Jay Ehler. All of the bids for these particular project came in at least a little higher than the school expected, he added. Sidney schools are using q...
The Salvation Army's new location on Illinois St. offers more space and easier accessibility. "It's not so congested," said Lori Borchert, Salvation Army board member. The Salvation Army's old store was located at 932 10th Ave. but the store moved at the end of last month to its new location in the old roller rink building next to Safeway at 2032 Illinois St. "I think it's great," said Steffen Kadie, chairman of the Sidney Salvation Army board. Space-wise, the store is 50 percent bigger, Kadie...
The city plans to begin work on the removal and replacement of the deteriorating pavement on 10th Ave. between Osage St. and Illinois St. today. This project involves improvements to the storm sewers along 10th Ave., in order to improve drainage and limit flooding on the roadway. It will also include replacing the outer portion of the sidewalk on that stretch of road to align with ADA compliance, according to public services director John Hehnke. The project will be completed in phases, with traffic re-routed from 10th Ave. to 13th Ave. around...
After some negotiation, Sun Valley Rides made an agreement with the Cheyenne County Fair Board to participate in this year’s fair. The fair board announced last month that the carnival was not returning to the event this year. Board members were worried that without a carnival, it would have a hard time drawing visitors to the fair, which has been a concern in past years even with the carnival in action. The carnival company claimed that it previously backed out due to financial issues. Sun Valley Rides blamed horrible weather last summer, whic...
The new Bell Lumber and Pole plant located northwest of Sidney received a big welcome from members of the community as well as state representatives at Thursday's grand opening. The $25 million utility pole treatment plant located north of the Adams Industries Industrial Park has already created at least 30 local jobs and is set for possible expansion. Many local government leaders spoke to the large crowd at the opening. They all applauded the project's success due to the cooperation of the...
Although all his opponents wish to repeal Obamacare, U.S. Senate candidate Shane Osborn claims that he was working against the bill’s passage before everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. “The difference here is the fact that I actually led the rallies around the state back in 2009 trying to keep it from passing in the first place,” Osborn said. “I didn’t just become against Obamacare when I was looking for votes and that’s a big difference in this race.” Since then, Osborn hasn’t changed his view that the Affordable Care Act will fail or th...
Representatives from the Cheyenne County Chamber of Commerce as well as from Adams Industries stand by as Tom Bell cuts the ribbon for his company's new utility pole treatment plant.... Full story
When Gubernatorial candidate Pete Ricketts stopped in Sidney on Wednesday during an extensive trip of Western Nebraska ahead of next week’s primary, he spoke about the need to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with something better. “What we have to do fundamentally at state government is reform HHS,” Ricketts said. “So we do a better job of delivering our services. To do that you need somebody who’s got my business experience to bring in the right management and put the right systems in place and invest in the right technolog...
U.S. Senate candidate Sid Dinsdale believes repeal of the Affordable Care Act to be replaced by personal accountability is the answer to healthcare woes in the United States. "I think it's going to take a group of people from the healthcare fields along with regular citizens to study what would be the best alternative," Dinsdale said. Dindale is a board member for Methodist Health Systems, a holding company with three hospitals in Omaha and 5,500 employees. "It's never been about access," Dinsdale said. "Some people come to the emergency room,...
I think we place a little too much pressure on our mothers to be perfect. Especially as children, we look to our moms as a source of not only basic care so we can survive into adulthood, but also to nurture every facet of our being so we can grow into well rounded, successful individuals. As children we expect the world from our mothers. They can make everything better with a kiss and are the main source of comfort to our small lives. And even though our mothers obviously brought this burden upon themselves, that’s a lot of pressure to put o...
Time is running out for Cheyenne County to find additional space for probation offices before it loses grant money for that purpose. Chief probation officer for district 12, Linda Buehler visited with the Cheyenne County commissioners several times within the past year, each time asking for more space for the Cheyenne County office. She spoke with them again on Monday and stressed that time was running short. “We’re kind of running up against a timeline now for the grant monies that we’ve gotten for 2013,” Buehler said. District 12, which i...
Cheyenne County voters will make few decisions on the local level in this year’s primary election on May 13. The big issue for many voters is the almost $17 million Sidney school bond, which would pay for a new K-4 school to replace the three aging schools which currently house those grade levels. During a special election last fall the bond issue was narrowly defeated by a margin of 105 votes. In February the state legislature passed LB 56, which allows county candidates to advance directly to the general election if running unopposed w...
Cheyenne County may be outgrowing its jail and its courtrooms. A proposal for a shared building to house city police and the county sheriff’s office developed into a discussion about the inadequacies of the county’s courtrooms and jail at Monday’s county commissioner meeting. Sidney mayor Wendall Gaston came before the commissioners with the suggestion of a shared facility. The city recently completed a comprehensive study on the police department building, the results of which strongly recommended a new facility at a cost of $3 to $4 milli...
Sidney serves as an example of success in a nation of small, struggling rural towns. Sidney's city manager Gary Person testified at a United States Senate agriculture hearing last week before a subcommittee on jobs, rural economic growth and energy innovation. Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns serves as the top Republican on this committee. "It was nice to be able to tell Sidney's story," Person said. Sen. Johanns invited Person to speak as part of a panel, along with other rural leaders from across...
Almost 200 community members pitched in this weekend to clean up trash across town in an effort to keep Sidney beautiful. On May 3, Keep Sidney Beautiful held its annual trash race, wherein participant teams worked to gather as much garbage and recyclables as possible and dispose of them properly. This year 13 teams comprised of 192 individuals participated in the trash race. First place went to a team of area Girl Scouts who collected 83 bags of trash. Second place went to the UPS team with 36...
May is looking to be an eventful month in Sidney and the surrounding areas. On Tuesday Sidney Regional Medical Center's board of directors officially approved the construction of its new $53 million facility. The groundbreaking ceremony will take place on May 28 at 9 a.m. at the new building's 40 acre site. "The new hospital is an important milestone in our goal to provide the finest quality healthcare to those members in the southwestern panhandle of Nebraska," said SRMC board chairman Bill...
On April 28, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jewish communities around the world paused to remember all those who died during this tragic era of the world’s history. This day’s observance in the midst of a crisis in South Sudan makes me wonder why Americans are so aware of the horrible atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust, but not so about other more recent incidences of genocide around the world. In the same way that many Americans during WWII didn’t want to believe the harsh reality of the Jewish Holocaust, it’s unseemly and unpleas...
A plethora of dance skills will be displayed at Dance Steps' yearly recital this weekend. Dance Steps, currently in its 24th year of operation serves around 90 dance and gymnastics students. Dance Steps teaches students from three years old through high school age. The studio offers instruction in classical ballet, tap, hip hop and gymnastics. The school moved into a new studio in the Jones' center in May of last year. "We're very structured at Dance Steps," said owner and classical ballet and...
A civil complaint filed against the Sidney police department for negligence in a child abuse investigation was dismissed in Cheyenne County District Court earlier this month. Amelia Bell filed a suit against the Sidney Police department in late 2012 on behalf of her children for actions taken by officer Curtis Hofrok and Lieutenant Keith Andrew during an investigation into discoloration of her son’s ears. Bell claimed that the children were improperly removed from her custody and that Andrew made maliciously false statements during the c...
High winds in Sidney and the surrounding area made travel unpleasant and dangerous Monday and Tuesday. One semi blew over on Interstate 80 on Monday, according to the Nebraska State Patrol. Three more semis and two campers were toppled on the Interstate in Cheyenne County on Tuesday. Another semi was blown into the median on the same day. Although there had been no additional wind related incidents in the county at press time, the Cheyenne County Sheriff's office asked citizens to avoid all...
